Conference moira::parenting_v3

    
    Also, Learning Express at the Bedford Mall (in NH) has the videos.
    (They are a little expensive - about $15).
    
    They are also expecting a shipment of the ERTL models.  You can put
    your name on the waiting list and they'll call you when the models 
    come in.
    
    I also found some beautiful books on THOMAS and his friends at the
    book store (Books n' Crannies or something like that) at Pennichuck 
    Square (101A Nashua).  Very reasonable price.  I particularly 
    recommend the Thomas ABC book - really cute.  
    
    Isn't that the cutest show!?  My 3-year-old loves it and so do I!  :^)
    
    
    
    

My almost-4-year-old LOVES that show !  It's is virtually the only one she'll
stop whatever she's doing to watch if she hears it coming on.

I remember seeing some show related stuff at the Learning Express store at
the new Mall at Rockingham Park.  Are these trains/engines just for looks
or manual play like trucks, or do they make up a working electric motorized
train set up with tracks and everything ?  She has Brio trains now and likes
them well enough, but really gets facinated by the "ones that move" that
she's seen set up in different hobby stores.  If they made a set with Thomas,
Percy and everyone I know she'd love it.

Sharon

It is a great show. My 16-month old baby Loves it too.

   > I'm still trying to get Gordon. If anyone sees him, would you let me
   > know? Seems all the stores are waiting for shipments from England, but
   > Gordon never appears. My son asks for Gordon every day. These trains
   > are only $2-3, so I can't bear to deprive him! ;-)
    
    I just received an FAO Schwartz catalog in the mail. There's a
    half-page of Thomas the Tank Stuff. They have one collection,
    including Gordon, that costs $104. But no single Gordon's. 
    
    sue
    

    
    I had no clue as to who Thomas was, one day ch. 2 was on and spencer (3
    yrs old) was standing there staring at the tv.  I went to see what he
    was watching and he told me "thats Thomas"  I didn't know who he was,
    seems he watchs it at daycare.  I was at the Pheasant Lane Mall last
    week at Early Learning Center and they had lots of Thomas videos and
    books, puzzles etc.  Seems they had a whole section of Thomas stuff.  I
    wasn't to interested at the time, so didn't notice if they had the
    toys.  I'll look again.
    
    I don't really understand why he loves it so much, no music, no fast
    action, not wildly colorful hmmmm I never would have thought!
    

    They just recently replaced Ringo Starr with ..... you'll never
    guess....
    
    George Carlin of all people!!! I can't wait to see him do this.
    
    RE:.3 They do have the electric train. If you're child is into this
    show, do call the Great Train Store and get their catalog. They have 4
    train sets, 69-169.95.     1-800-833-6128
    
    The amazing thing to me is when my son can identify the different
    trains by only seeing their face, not their color. To me the faces all
    look alike!
    
    Gal

    
    The Spiegel christmas catalog offers a full page of Thomas the Tank 
    Engine and Friends toys - including a portable electric train set, 
    a "Construct-A-Thomas" train, video tapes, a Thomas spintop, plush
    toy and ride-on.   Prices $12.90 (videos) to $39 (ride-on) + s&h.
    
    Carol

    I was just at Pheasant Lane Mall last Friday and they did not have
    actual trains.  They did, though, have books, puzzels, videos for
    Thomas.  My 17 month old daughter loves him... "choo choo" she says
    every time one of the trains appears.
    
    Mary
    

    This morning when I dropped my 15� month old son off at the sitter's,
    she put the t.v. on for him and Thomas the Tank was on.  I couldn't for
    the life of me get my son's attention to give him a kiss good bye. 
    Seems this show mezmerizes even the youngest viewers.
    
    Lori B.

    .6 > They just recently replaced Ringo Starr with ..... you'll never
    .6 > guess....
    
    .6 > George Carlin of all people!!! I can't wait to see him do this.

     IMHO - Ringo Starr's voice is one of the reason's children are
            mesmerized by this show.  My daughter is glued during his
            narration of the "train story of the day".  I hope Mr Carlin
            can do the same, I'm skeptical at this point.  But, when
            I first saw that Ringo Starr was the conductor, I was
            skeptical too.
    
    .6 > RE:.3 They do have the electric train. If you're child is into this
    .6 > show, do call the Great Train Store and get their catalog. They have 4
    .6 > train sets, 69-169.95.     1-800-833-6128
    
     I haven't had much luck getting through to this tele. #, keep getting
     a busy signal.  Do you know if this is a Mass. only number, cuz I'm
     dialing from NH ?

     Thanx for the info here though.  This may solve my "What do I get her
     for Christmas" dilemma.

     Sharon

       Excuse my ignorance, but who's George Carlin?  

       When Ringo stopped narrating Thomas the Tank Engine, he was replaced
       by an actor called Michael Angelis. Michael has the same Liverpool 
       accent as Ringo and is known in the UK mainly for sit-com roles.

       It sounds like they've redubbed Thomas for the American market
       (shame!).

       Ian (Basingstoke - England).

       .11 > Excuse my ignorance, but who's George Carlin?  

        George Carlin is an American comedian.  One of best known "skits"
        is one where he does the 7 (or is it 11) dirty words you can't
        say on radio.  Did this show originate in England ?  We have American
        actors playing the characters at the station, so Ringo is the only
        English presence on our version - do you have your own actors
        for these parts of the show ?

       Re: The Great Train Store :

        I did finally get through on the 800 number and was very impressed
        with the service I got.  Don't call for catalogs now however.  The
        gentleman told me they definitely won't be shipping any more catalogs
        until after Christmas.  I asked if I would get one in time for my
        daughters birthday in January, and he couldn't guarantee that either.
        But, he was a good salesman.  When I mentioned interest in the
        Shining Time Station items he just about read the catalog to me over
        the phone ( guess that's why the #'s busy a lot )!  Well, not wanting
        to miss out, I ordered the electric set with Thomas and 2 other
        engines ( can't believe I forget which ones ) for 99.95.  They had
        one less expensive set for 69.95, and 2 others (139.95 and 169.95).
        I will be getting a catalog with my order, so if anyone is interested
        send me mail and I'd be willing to lend it out.  I was impressed with
        the service and from description they sound like a quality product.

   Sharon

    re: .10, .12
    
    I, too, had trouble getting through yesterday (busy signal), but was
    able to get thru about 1 hr ago. I asked for a catalog, and was told
    that they'd send one out, but they never mentioned (and I hadn't asked)
    about receiving it before Christmas. Maybe I should call back and
    confirm...
    
    re: .11 (Ringo vs. George)
    
    Has George replaced Ringo yet? Ever since I bought one of the Thomas
    videos for Nick, we haven't been watching Shining Time Station, (he
    doesn't seem to care about the Stacy Jones and the rest of the
    crew...he only wants to watch the trains!) so I'm not up to speed about
    what's happenming. the few episodes we have seen recently were repeats
    and Ringo was still part of the cast. Just curious.

    re: .13 Catalog
    
    I guess you didn't get the "super-salesperson" I got.  What they told me
    was that they'd put me on the mailing list, but that they weren't doing
    another bulk mailing until after Christmas ( maybe much after ).  The
    only way to get one between now & then was to order something and they'd
    ship a catalog along with it.  I was pretty sure I wanted to order
    anyway, so I'll be getting a catalog.  Could have been a salespitch,
    but it didn't come across that way.  As soon as I get mine, I'd be glad
    to photocopy the Thomas stuff and send you a copy if you'd like.  I'll
    also rate the one I ordered, if I ever get a chance to inspect it 
    away from watchful eyes ;-)
    
    re: (Ringo vs. George)
    
    I haven't seen any episodes with George yet.  Not sure if they've even
    been filmed.  My daughter would know better than I, but, I don't think
    I've seen any new episodes in at least the last 6 months.  She doesn't
    seem to mind, though.  Maybe they didn't need to replace him at all !

    > re: .13 Catalog
    
    > I guess you didn't get the "super-salesperson" I got. What they told me
      was that they'd put me on the mailing list, but that they weren't
    
    Either that or I just some someone who didn't want to go through
    the hassle of telling me 'No catalog until Jan.', and have to listen to
    me complain...;^)
    
    As far as sending me a copy of the Thomas pages, that would be super!
    I'm at CTS1-2/F3. Thanks in advance...
    
    Freddie

    
    Yesterday (Monday) morning on Shining Time Station on WGBH Ch.2 Boston
    they had the start of the shows with George Carlin. They explained that
    a man named Nicholas (implying Santa Claus) had come through the
    station and needed the conductors help so he went and the new
    conductor is the old conductor's cousin. I don't normally watch this as
    Anna is only 6 1/2 months old, but it's on right after Sesame Street
    and I was feeding Anna so didn't/couldn't change the channel so I
    caught the beginning.
    
    Patty

    On Monday, we saw Shining Time Station with George Carlin. My 3-year
    old seemed to enjoy it as much as usual, but I was dissapointed.
    There's something about Ringo's Liverpuddlian accent that adds to the
    stories for me. I have a hard time of thinking of Thomas with a George
    Carlin vocie ! The kiddos are probably so entranced with the trains
    that they most likely won't even notice.

    Re: .10
    
    I agree, my daughter didn't seem to care much about the show on Tuesday
    when we watched it (with George Carlin).  
    
    Does anyone get Childcraft Magazine?  I got mine on Monday and they had
    a couple of pages with Thomas the Tank Engine.  Nothing great, though.
    
    Mary

The Thomas the Tank Engine videos started off life as 5-10 minute TV programmes
in England on BBC television.  (A lot of childrens' programming comprises 10
minute programs like Thomas).

These programmes were used here in Canada un-changed by TV Ontario (our PBS
equivalent).  In the US, to fit in with the standard 1/2 hour programme time,
the Thomas "shorts" were encapsulated into a half-hour program called
"Shining Time Station"  which has been shown on PBS and other specialty
networks.  The Thomas stories were re-dubbed substituting American railroad
jargon for UK jargon and done by Ringo.

I suspect the new UK Thomas stories without Ringo are being redubbed with
George Carlin's voice instead (although I have yet to see one).  In Canada
we get to see the original Thomas stories untouched on TVO and Shining
Time Station on US PBS stations that are available on cable here.

Stuart

    Yesterday I saw bits and pieces of Shining Time with George.  At least
    one of the Thomas shorts was an old Ringo one re-dubbed by George.  Has
    anyone seen/heard George tell any NEW stories?
    
    marianne
    

Why are they re-dubbing the old ones?????

Bob

    Well, for starters do you know what points and trucks are ?  (And
    even if you do, how many North Americans would realise ?)
    
    
    
    points are switches as in a junction in the rails to select a forked
    path.
    
    trucks are miscellaneous railway cars.
    
    
    Seems a relatively feeble reason to me but someone in their wisdom made
    the decision.

    HELP!! I still haven't found Gordon!!! This is the ONLY thing my son
    wants for Christmas. He's been asking for Gordon since last June.
    
    Are there any UK readers here? If you find Gordon there, I would pay
    lots of money to have you ship it here to me in the US! Please? All the
    US stores I've talked to say that Gordon is on backorder.
    
    HELP!!!
    
    Gale

    Gale,
    
    I looked in a few toy shops at lunchtime, and found one with a stock of
    several "Gordon"s. These are small (about 5" long) die-cast models,
    costing �2.50 sterling. Is this what you mean?
    
    Let me know (quickly!) if you want me to get one and post it over.
    
    Ian. 

    To the rest of the Parenting community - just wanted to tell you that
    Ian sent me a "Gordon" in the mail. Instead of payment for the toy,
    postage and his efforts he has asked me to make a donation to a
    children's charity.
    
    Is this guy great or what?!! He has made my Christmas season truly
    merry - not to say how Kevin is going to feel when he opens it
    Christmas morning!
    
    Thanks so much Ian. I'll be donating to NF.
    
    Merry Christmas!
    
    Gale

    
    Okay , I give, what charity is NF?? 
    
    Patty

    I guess Ian qualifies for the Random Kindness and Senseless Acts of
    Beauty Award.
    
    How great for Kevin!
    
    judy

         Oh gosh - now you've made me blush!
    
         Maybe one of you can do the same for me someday.
    
         Ian (14 weeks to go).

    
    
    >> Ian (14 weeks to go).
    
    Huh?   Are you pregnant, Ian?   8-)   
    
    Well, you're definitely a saint in my book!
    
    Carol

    Just reading Parenting for the 1st time since Christmas. 1st I'll
    answer the question - NF is Neurofibromitosis. It is a childhood
    disease, not very pretty. I have a friend that volunteers a lot of her
    time for this particular disease, and I know that most of the money
    donated goes to work, not to admin costs. 
    
    On a brighter note... Christmas. We had to videotape Kevin opening up
    his Gordon. It was so funny. When he saw it was Gordon, he started with
    "Mom, I got Gordon!" Then it got louder with a bigger smile, "Mom, I
    got Gordon!" The 5th time he was jumping up and down on 2 feet
    screaming "I GOT GORDON, I GOT GORDON!!!" 
    
    He played with NOTHING else the rest of the day. My brother and my
    parents kept asking me why I bothered to buy him any other presents,
    cause he could care less. He got his Gordon.
    
    Gordon sleeps with him every night.
    
    Thanks again Ian!
    
    Gale

    I was just browsing through the Consumer Reports guide for 1992 and saw
    that the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends push toy has been recalled
    because some of the parts may be swallowed by small children.  If my
    co-worker still has the book here today I'll double check to see if
    that was the correct name of the toy.
    
    Bev

re.31

In the UK they are sold as not suitable for children under 36 months due to
small parts.

It's then up to parents to use their common sense. David is two years and a bit
and has been playing with these toys a long time and they are holding up well.
He does not put things in his mouth anyway unless it's served on a plate or in 
a cup or bowl!.

/Dave.

re .31

I have the book here at my desk - here's what it says:

Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends Push-A-Long and Shape Sorter Pull Toy-
small parts could choke child.

Products:  5800 toys sold 1/90-10/90.  Push-A-Long Train, sold as model 8841
for $20, is plastic and includes blue engine and two brown passenger cars.
Engine measures 5-1/4" high, 9" wide, and 9-1/2" long, is decorated with
pictures of engineers, and contains six colored shapes-red, green, yellow,
blue, white, orange.  Lid is black and back door is blue with red latch.
Passenger cars are 6" tall, 4-1/2" wide, and 10" long and identified by
name - Annie and Clarabel.  Shape Sorter Pull Toy, sold as model 8809 for
$10, consists of engine identical to that in Push-A-Long Train, with red
cord and blue pull ring.  Label under each toy reads in part, "Manufactured
in China Under License to Nylint Corp., Rockford, IL  61104-5491 USA."

What to do:  Return toy to store or mail it to Nyling Corp., 1800 16th Ave.,
Rockford, IL  61101 for refund and reimbursement of shipping cost.

    Anyone know why they stopped the Shining Time Station TV show in the
    Mass. area?  My son is very disappointed that Thomas the tank isn't on
    anymore.  Did they run out of episodes?

    I think they changed the time.  I had never seen the show before
    until Christmas vacation week.  I believe they moved Shining Time
    Station into Mr Roger's time slot.  I'm not sure of the time,
    7:30 or 8am maybe?
    
    It is still being broadcast in Mass...that I know for sure.
    
    Linda

    It WAS on at 8, but now that show w/Lambchop (the puppet) is on at 8,
    followed by Mr. Rogers at 8:30.  And I think Sesame Street is still on
    from 7 - 8.  Paige will be crushed if we can't find STS on at another
    time!
    

    
    	Yup....Sesame Street is still on from 7:00 till 8:00..
    	we'd be lost without it.  Matthew always watches it
    	while we get ready for work.  

    Well, I was curious and checked the TV Guide for Shining Time
    Station.  I didn't see it listed at all.  
    
    Linda

They have been making an announcement between Sesame Street and Lamb_Chops that:

	Shining Time Station will "hopefully" return "later this year".

It IS off-the-air here in Massachusetts (we have not found it offered at a
different time on a different station -- it's really gone!).  No idea why.

We bought Juli several Thomas video tapes (with a matchbox-like version of
a tank engine -- she has: Thomas, Toby, Bertie the Bus, Percy and James).  She
loves both the videos and the matchbox engines.  They sell for ~$15 at
Leachmere's, video stores and Early Learning Centers.  That will have to
tie-her-over until STS comes back on the air ... if it does!

Dottie

    We have a little Thomas-the-Tank-Engine addict here in Texas.  Sorry to
    hear it's off the air in MA.  Our PBS station does some screwy things
    with programming sometimes, so in addition to the Thomas tapes we've
    bought for Michael, we've made a 6-hour tape with 12 episodes of the
    complete 30-minute STS show on it.  When I told my wife it was off the
    air in MA, she immediately started making a second tape just in case it
    should happen here.
    
    BTW, it comes on daily here.  If anyone is really desperate, we have a
    2nd VCR and would be willing to tape 12 episodes for you.  Send me
    mail.
    
    Steve

    I just called WGBH [channel 2 in Boston] to find out about STS and the
    fellow told me that yes, it is off the air and probably will be for
    several months.  Seems that only 30-40 episodes were made this time, and
    legally they can't keep on reshowing them -- I told him the kids
    probably wouldn't care!.  But they are now in the process of making new
    shows -- I told him it wouldn't be a moment too soon!  Shari Lewis is 
    scheduled to be on at 8AM for the next 3-4 months.  I remember her from
    my childhood, but the little I heard of this show the other day sounded
    like it was for really young, maybe preschool kids.
    
    For those of us with older kids, I asked about "Carmen Sandiego" -- it
    will still be on for a while as a 'double-feature', but now some shows
    may be reruns because there were only 65 done to begin with.  I asked
    him to put in a word to replace one of the 1/2 hours with "3-2-1
    Contact" or "Square 1" -- I said that since these were geared to the
    school-aged child, it didn't make sense to have them on between 8AM and
    3PM -- he agreed with me on that!
    
    Now to go home and break the news about STS to my 8-yr old -- it filled
    in that 30 minutes between breakfast and the school bus very nicely.
    
    Sandy

    As a read only member of this file, I've picked up a lot of information
    that has been extremely useful for my son who has moderate acute
    asthma. To help out members in the N.H. and Mass. area, check out
    channel 11 at 9 A.M. on Sunday. They have been showing Shining Time
    station the last few weeks. We were at the Leominster Searstown Mall
    and my wife and I were able to order Shining Time Station tapes from 
    Waldenbooks. Hope this helps everyone.

    In our house, Nicholas shows no interest in STS ever since I bought
    him some 'Thomas the Tank Engine' videotapes. Whenever he used to
    watch STS, he only showed interest in the trains, so this behavior
    doesn't surprise me. Maybe if he was a little older (he's 2yrs4mos), 
    he'd be more interested in Stacy and crew. For now, at least, we can
    get by on videotapes alone. There's 5 in the series so far, and at 7
    (or 9, I don't remember) 'episodes' per tape, that's 35-45 in total,
    so we should be able to rotate them enough to prevent boredom.
    
    By the way, does anyone know how many total episodes were narrated by
    Ringo? Personally, I don't enjoy George Carlin as much...his
    storytelling seems forced, and I miss having the episodes narrated in a 
    British accent. It just felt right, especially since the setting/dialog 
    for Thomas seemed so British. Anyone agree/disagree?
    
    Also, does anyone know of a local (E.MA/So.NH) source for Thomas toys,
    specifically the small 'Matchbox'-like trains? Nick's got Thomas, but
    I'd like to get him Gordon, or James or any of the other characters.
    I've checked the Early Learning Centers in Burlington and Nashua, but
    they don't seem to have them. In all fairness, they haven't fully
    restocked from Christmas, so maybe they will have them later, but I'd
    like to find some soon.
    
    Thanks in advance,
    
    Freddie (the other Thomas fan in the family)
    
    P.S. Re: .12/.14
    
    Sharon, how did your daughter like her train set?

    My son Thomas (18 1/2 mo) was crushed when STS stopped airing a couple
    weeks or so ago.  I too saw that it was on Channel 11 in the TV guide, 
    but unfortuantely, we don't get Channel ll (figures, out of god knows
    how many cable channels we have, we don't get that one!)  At Thomas's
    young age, Sesame Street and STS were the only two shows he really
    WATCHES.  He has a real fixation for trains and walks around saying
    "choo choo" (one of the first phrases he ever said when he first 
    started talking months ago).  I only have one show taped and boy I'm
    getting sick of it, but if he likes it, that's all that matters.  I'm
    happy to read that you can buy the videotapes and the trains, I didn't
    realize that before reading this conference.  Thanks!
    
    Linda
    

 < P.S. Re: .12/.14
 < 
 < Sharon, how did your daughter like her train set?

Hi,

Actually Lindsay had a bad bout with the flu beginning at 2:30 AM Christmas
morning.  As a result nothing was of interest to her for a while.  Since
her recovery, she has had a good time with it, however.  I think it's a
little "too old" for her right now ( if they get off the track she has
a hard time setting them back on correctly - and so do I for that matter ! )
to play with all by herself, but she does enjoy watching them go around
and talking for them.  The set had some cardboard cut-outs of Top'm Hat
and the engineer, some trees, a cow, and a tunnel that help make it a
little more like a scene.  Dad likes the set too, so he's going to make
a board to set it up on and maybe we'll add some "real" trees/houses etc.
It's seems pretty well made (I'm not an electric train expert) but
maybe was a little over-priced compared to a regular train set - but it's
really Thomas, Clarabell and Annie.  Very authentic to the show.  I'm
not disappointed that I got it.  It's also one of the few toys we got
this year (besides Dad's Gameboy) that they both play together.

Before I close I do have to add my displeasure with George Carlin as the
replacement.  I've noticed even Lindsay is less "spellbound" with his
narration.  The STS portions were never the strong point of this show,
but the changes in characters here are also less than great.  I wonder if
a petition sent to Ringo's agents would have any effect ? ;-)

    I saw this ad in yesterday's Boston Herald:
    
    
    
    			THOMAS THE TANK & FRIENDS 
                                  LIVE
    
    Join us at the Malls for "Thomas the Tank Engine-Live!"
    a twenty-five minute musical, magical, high-energy show featuring
    the life size "Thomas the Tank Engine" from the PBS television
    series, "Shining Time Station." (sponsered by Early Learning Centre)
    
    Don't miss your chance to personally meet "Thomas" and his friends
    after each show.  Support your public broadcasting station and get your
    picture taken with "Thomas the Tank Engine" for only $3.
    
    ARSENAL MALL (Watertown, MA): Friday Feb 21 at 12:30, 2 and 4pm
    
    LIBERTY TREE MALL (Danvers, MA): Saturday, Feb 22 at 1:30, 3 & 4:30pm
    
    THE MALL OF NEW HAMPSHIRE: Sunday, Feb 23 at 11am, 1 and 3:30pm
    (Manchester, NH)
    
    [Printed without permission]

I don't mean to be a wet blanket or anything here ... but ...

Thomas is a Tank Engine ... and not just a Tank  as opposed to a Tender
Engine (like Gordon).

A Tank Engine carries water in tanks on the engine itself (and the coal)
A Tender Engine relies on a Tender (Coal car) immediately following the
engine to supply coal and water.  The tender generally allows greater
capacity for longer distance runs.

Just to set the record straight ! :-)

Stuart

    Could someone please give me directions to the Arsenal Mall in
    Watertown.  I will be coming from the Mass Pike.
    
    Thanks,
    
    Jill
    

   In case anybody is still interested in making S-T-S tapes - I
   noticed a couple of weeks ago that they are still airing a single
   episode on Channel 11 from New Hampshire - 9am on Sunday's.  Not
   sure why, nor how long it will last, but I saw it listed - take a
   look and see if its still there for ya.
   
   - Tom
   

    Thank You for fixing the title !  That's much better ... I'm sure
    Thomas will feel much better now too, especially after he's had a 
    drink!
    
    Stuart :-)

    
    
    We went to the Thomas the Tank Engine show at the Liberty tree mall on 
    Saturday (Matthew's birthday).  I have never seen a bigger crowd in my 
    life.  It was impossible to see anything!  Did anyone make it to the 
    other malls?  I'd be curious to hear what it was like!  It was very
    ironic that the event was to benefit WGBH (local PBS) and they don't
    even run the show anymore.  My son can't stand the show, he only likes
    the Thomas videos.  

    We, too, attended the show at the Liberty Tree Mall. A major
    disappointment due to the huge crowds (yeah, I know...I wasn't expecting
    having the place to ourselves, but this bordered on the ridiculous.)
    When we arrived at 2:30 for the 3:00 show, the crowd (all sitting on
    the floor) was stretched out at least 70 rows deep! (I stopped counting
    at approx 50, and was only about 2/3 through). 
    
    We opted to bypass the stage show in favor of getting Nick's picture
    taken with Thomas, but when we got to him, the line was over 100 people
    long (all the way from the center to Ann & Hope, for those familiar
    with the mall)...and to make things worse, they stopped taking pictures
    while the show was in progress, bringing the line to a dead stop for
    25+ minutes. 
    
    We quickly went with plan C, which meant a ride for Nicholas on the
    small amusement-park style train (only a 5-10 minute wait!), a quick
    stop at McDonalds to get him some fries, and some extra-strength
    Tylenol for mom & dad...
    
    Nick didn't seem too concerned about missing the show (we caught some
    from a distance and it didn't seem like we missed much) or about not
    getting a chance to sit on Thomas, but then again, we took him there as
    a surprise, so he hadn't built up his expectations. The biggest bummer
    in his mind was that we wouldn't let him sit and watch the Thomas
    videos being shown on a TV. Considering the fact that he already has
    all *5* videos at home, we decided against him having to fight his way
    past a crowd of people 7 or 8 deep just to get close to the one TV set.
    
    Just my $0.02 
    
    Freddie

    I didn't go, but my husband took my 3 year-old son to Arsenal Mall
    in Watertown on Friday.  The report I got - yes, it was very crowded
    (the mall parking lot was full - had to park across the street). They
    arrived at noon for the 12:30 show and were able to see most of it, 
    and waited in line for 40 minutes to have Andrews picture taken with
    Thomas (which came out pretty good - considering it was only $3). After
    the show they stopped by the video store in the mall which had Thomas
    tapes on all monitors and bought a new video, then went to lunch at
    Friendlys where they had Thomas placemats for the kids to color.  All
    in all they both had a great time and Andrew fell asleep at 7 Friday
    night - totally exhausted.
    

    
    Just tried ordering from ERTL and they no longer accept consumer orders
    for Thomas things.  They gave me the number of another place (don't
    know the name).  Their phone number is 800-962-9481.  They didn't have
    much left and they aren't expecting an order until the beginning of May
    but their prices were excellent.  I ordered Henrietta, Terence, and
    Duck for $3.25 each.  I also ordered Sir Topham Hatt for $2 something.
    Even with shipping these are better prices than almost anywhere else.
    

    re: .54
    
    I just called this number and they were very friendly, especially 
    considering I don't really know what I want or what is around.  They 
    will be sending me a catalog that I should get in about two weeks.
    
    My son (two on April 22) just loves Thomas and all the others, so 
    hopefully I can get him a few items for his birthday.
    
    Mary
    
    
    
    
    

    Has anyone heard anything about the show starting back up on
    Channel 2?  I've been watching the TV Guide, but haven't seen
    anything.  
    
    Thanks
    

    re: 54,55

    I called for the catalog also, came in a few days - sent in an order
    for 10 items the next day! My little boy is going to be very happy when
    he completes his set of die-cast trains. I was able to get some at an
    Early Learning Center - but the catalog (which is from some Toy store -
    I've forgotten the name - they are seriously into mail-order!) had many
    more items, including Sir Topham Hatt!

    Happy boy = Happy Dad!

    JR

    Macy's is now carrying a line of Thomas the Tank Engine clothes. 
    From what I recall mostly shorts and T-shirt style tops for about
    $15.00 + each.  They were nice but I think I'll wait for a sale!
    
    Mary